Shoplight
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Any of a class of light fixtures designed mainly for workshops, traditionally (in the 20th century) in the form of a tubelight suspended on lightweight chains (usually with twin tubes of four-foot length), now often in LED versions (2020s).
"For lighting in his new garage, he hung several rows of shoplights."
- 2 The ambient light in a workshop, through whichever method of lighting is used to provide it, such as daylight through windows or skylights, electric lights, gaslight, etc. archaic
"To summarize, air is in practice proving to be a fairly cheap and most convenient transmitter of power, allowing fine sub-division and transportation to remote points with the crowning and unique quality of suffering no appreciable loss when held in storage. For intermittent service it is of great value, allowing widely varying speed of tools, dispensing with long lines of shafting and belts, giving free head room, and increasing the shoplight as well as lessening the first cost of roof frames when they have not to carry shafting. The pipes require no coating; they radiate no heat, and therefore can be put in close corners without increasing the fire risk; their direction is readily changed in any plane without risk of pocketing or water-hammer, and leaky joints (we all get them) are not a nuisance or risk."
Example
More examples"For lighting in his new garage, he hung several rows of shoplights."
Etymology
From shop + light.
More for "shoplight"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.